


With Heart Towards Him

by ThisisVenereVeritas



Series: Making the Most of a Vague Prophecy [2]
Category: Metalocalypse (Cartoon)
Genre: Coma, Healing, Injury, M/M, Time Skips, post Galaktikon 2 Setting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:33:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27716153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThisisVenereVeritas/pseuds/ThisisVenereVeritas
Summary: Toki wakes up from a dream, to a promise realized.
Relationships: Magnus Hammersmith/Toki Wartooth
Series: Making the Most of a Vague Prophecy [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2027201
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8





	With Heart Towards Him

**Author's Note:**

> Alright. What started as tumblr prompt has officially evolved into part of something greater. 
> 
> So, there's backstory headcanon that needs to be explained. To put it simply, I went with the whole "dethsong" line and stretched it as thin as I could. Magnus is still alive, and he writes a special song, one imbued with Toki's magic. It is essentially the "dethsong," only it wakes the god of death up, and thus helps bring back the other members of dethklok back to life. This connects with two other hammertooths I've written, but you really don't need to read either to enjoy this for what it is.

When it was all over, Toki dreamed. He dreamed he was in space, floating aimlessly amongst the vast black sea of nothingness. In his dream, he carried no physical form, no arms or legs to paddle through the weightless current, and no mouth to call his brothers who floated alongside him, there in spirit, and just as formless as he. In his dream, they sailed across the atmosphere’s outermost layer, drifting peacefully, coating the earth in a veil that soothed, healed it from the damage of a battle between gods. Toki stared outwards, at distant stars twinkling bright. He paid no mind to his spreading consciousness, the molecules that drifted in all directions, and instead took delight in how he could stare the sun head-on without his eyes hurting, the glowing fogs of distant galaxies that radiated new colors Toki never knew existed, and the gorgeous purple and white swirl of their own milky way.

In his dream, he saw the earth beneath him, massive and blue. Eyeless, but all-seeing, Toki watched the glitter of city lights, the gathering of clouds, and the graceful turn of the planet. He saw how day transformed into night, and in doing so, remembered a distant, faded memory. A promise he made. Something important. Toki watched the planet spin, let days and weeks go by, trying to remember what it was, the promise, but couldn’t breach anything past those final moments before falling asleep. So, he turned away from earth, and delved back to the stars that flickered, at his nonexistent form, and went on, floated further into his beautiful, but admittedly lonesome dream.

… 

He sailed further, vanishing across space, consciousness never fully wavering despite the everlasting silence, the darkness and the building sense of loneliness…

…

In his dream, he saw nothing. He felt nothing.

…

Something cut through the emptiness. A flat note ripped through space, waking Toki, startling him out of his peaceful state. An inkling, a sharp, painful reminder that he left something behind. With his mind now spread across the greater part of the galaxy, it took awhile just to wake up, to realize what was going on. The stars twinkled around him, and his brothers, just as equally spread and silent, quivered at the terrible sound. In his dream, he was nothing more than a cluster of atoms, but the song somehow tore through Toki, attacking him, yelling and pleading for him to put himself back together. A terrifying noise. A mournful sound. An unending, unwavering rip of chords that called him forward, back to earth, to the atmosphere. 

In his dream, a storm brewed. A loud, raging storm that called all the bits and pieces of Toki to reform. He followed it, reconfiguring, collecting the remains of his friends, and picking up the distinct notes that filled his hollowed form with pain. And then came a dream of rain, of thunder and lightning, and Toki picking up each piece of himself, of Nathan and the others and, following the instruction of the grief-stricken, but now _familiar_ tune, fixed them together and cast them into the storm clouds.

Toki dreamt of water, of falling into it and becoming one with the atmosphere. He dreamed that he was drowning. He feared he was, until a new sensation took hold. He _was_ falling, away from the blackened sea, from the weightless joy of space, and was tumbling back to earth, falling, falling, closer to that frightening noise. The moment pieces of him sank into the clouds, collected and readied to be carried off into each droplet, the song became more rapturous, beautiful. Toki felt himself start to reform, and he could feel the fragments of a promise, and memory of him playing, helping orchestrate the music that now consumed his drenched, ailing soul.

He reached out with an arm that wasn’t entirely there, at the source of each trembling, wretched note. Each wonderful note. That familiar melody. 

His song.

…

* * *

Toki woke to the gentle patter of rain hitting a window, and the sound of a monitor providing a steady, repetitive beep. Senses still trapped in a fog, Toki pushed a breath of air through his lips, and was surprised to discover the chapped edges and nerves stinging from the brief exhale. The drizzle outside called for him to remain still. Toki couldn’t figure why, but thought he should listen to it. Still, he parted his mouth, breathing in the alien atmosphere, the strange, medicinal taste that lingered under each shallow inhale. In the distance, he heard footsteps, clicks, beeps, and voices.

Toki tried opening his eyes, to get a better sense of where he was, because he knew he wasn’t in his room. The bed underneath was too stiff, and the sheets so thin. Everything felt heavy and rigid, and whatever attempt he made to move, to wriggle in place, was met with an impossible weight. His legs were stones, and his throat was dry. His mind was alert, but his head was still fuzzy, and trying just to turn, to rub his face into the pillow made his brain feel stuffed and sick. His right arm was disturbingly numb.

The rain’s patter grew silent, and Toki possessed just enough strength to open his heavy eyelids, to meet with the harsh light right above him. His muscles squint, recoiled at the sudden change. A dull pain quaked across his body as he tried to escape the blare. The world was a massive, white blur, and as Toki wrestled with his consciousness, pulled himself awake and tried to focus his tired eyes on a shape, heard the monitor begin to pick up, and turned towards it.

It was _his_ monitor, he realized, staring wearily at the indistinct figure of a squiggly line jumping in tandem with his heartbeat.

He was…in a hospital?

Then came another sound. Something hard and plastic hitting the floor, and liquid splashing as it collided with a hard surface. Startled, Toki slowly turned his head, this time more capable, but felt a terrible ache that crawled up his spine and settled across his skull as he tried to locate the source of the noise.

He blinked. Standing before him was a dark, blurry figure.

“Toki?” 

A new pain filled Toki when he heard the voice. Magnus. He knew. Toki swallowed a lump, trying to make sense of why his chest ached so much. He squinted his eyes, barely catching the outline of Magnus’ figure, the wild and indistinct form of his hair, and the long, thin design of his encroaching form. 

He parted his lips. “…Ma–”

“Toki!” A sad, desperate cry.

Magnus approached, stepping over whatever mess he concocted, and hurried towards the bed before Toki could effectively focus on him. His bed shook, and Toki knew Magnus was there, gripping it, trembling above him. He stared at the blurry figure, barely making out the man’s silhouette, but spotting the rich color of his iris set upon him. 

“You’re awake…”

The shaking of the bed ceased, now replaced with warm, shaking fingers outlining Toki’s face. Toki closed his eyes at the touch, racked with a terrible ache once hands began to cradle his jawline. Each touch was so affectionate, so tender, and for whatever reason, Toki felt starved of it. Warm hands. A thumb rolling over his cheek. He detected every distinct movement, no matter how soft, how subtle, and the pain that nestled in his chest grew bigger, heavier, and a terrible feeling, one Toki couldn’t put into words, gripped him. As if he had read Tokis’ mind, Magnus now hovered over him, and his lips gently applied soothing reminders across Toki’s forehead that this was real; his frantic, uneven breaths hitting Toki’s face was real; each pained touch that warmed Toki’s weakened state, reawakened nerves and filled him with energy, was real.

Each touch, each gentle kiss served to reawaken slumbering nerves, to rekindle a dying soul. It was supposed to calm him, but Toki shuddered each time Magnus pulled away, trembled against the slightest change in heat. A terrifying thought arose: that _this_ was real, that he was _finally_ feeling something after nothing.

Like he was waking up from a very long sleep.

Toki stared into the dark mass of hair and shadows. “Magnus?”

“Yeah,” his warm voice spoke, unsteady and reverberating that same fear. Magnus pulled back. “H-how you doing, buddy?”

Toki stared at the reconfiguring form, of Magnus slowly coming into better view. He had his jacket on, and this time it was buttoned. Toki could make out the red surrounding Magnus’ eye, the blurry line that made up his smile.

He swallowed again. “…tired.”

Magnus chuckled above him. “I’ll say,” he said, voice stressed and hoarse. “You’ve been sleeping for nearly a week.” 

Toki went silent. A whole week? 

It would explain why he felt so tired, muscles and joints stiff from a lack of movement, and body sore and weighted from underuse. Toki blinked, a little pleased when he reopened them to see some loose strands of Magnus’ hair finally begin to solidify. He could make out Magnus’ face better, and with it, could see what his long sleep had done. The man looked so worried! So concerned. So…so tired.

“Ams…awakes now,” Toki said, surprised by how a week-long rest could result in his voice so faint, lungs exhausted from a simple inhale.

Oh, but they had a battle! Right… a battle in space. No wonder he felt so weak.

A vision of space flashed across Toki’s mind, along with the sense of loneliness. He stared out, past Magnus, looking as hard as he could with his terrible vision, to see if there was anyone else in the room with them. He saw more blurs, shadows of something off-white and lots of blue, but nothing that looked like a friend, like a member of Dethklok.

“Magnus,” Toki called, heaving the man’s name out. “Dids we...”

“You did it, man,” Magnus said, voice falling to a barely controlled quiver. The space between them vanished once more, shadow returning to cover Toki. Magnus’s hands cradled his head, returning and supplying Toki with a touch that was still so intense, so refreshing despite only being away from him for a week. “You saved the planet. You all did…”

Toki smiled at the news, felt the ends of his eyes burn as Magnus continued to feed and refill his hungry, empty body with his touch. Toki closed them, choosing to focus on the relief of knowing it was finally over, and sighed under each welcoming sensation, the warmth of Magnus’ presence finally reentering his life after spending so long dreaming of the stars. He listened as Magnus informed him it was alright, that everyone was alive, that the others were waking up with each passing day. Toki sniffed, elated to hear that everyone was safe, that Skwisgaar would wake up soon after him, and they’d all be able to celebrate. Abigail was here. And Charles. His arm was broken, and he suffered some burns here and there, and he’d have to stay in the hospital for a little while longer to run some tests, but he was alive. Everyone was alive, and he made it back in one piece.

He listened as best he could, fighting through the dull pain that was starting to creep up his arm, and the exhaustion that worsened under Magnus’ comforting touch. Suddenly, his smile started to burn, and Toki felt a minute rip spread across the center of his upper lip. He licked it, tasting the parting of his chapped skin, and winced at the sting of his own dry tongue.

He swallowed. “Ams…thirsty.”

“Gotcha,” Magnus said, and parted from him to retrieve some water. The instant he did, the ache returned. It was less than a minute, but the yearn for touch, for someone to acknowledge and speak with him quickly consumed Toki’s thought. It was the same, unending feel of loneliness that had started to fill his dreams, and was returning with a vengeance for each second he spent alone.

But Magnus returned, cup and straw in hand, and the pain quelled long enough for Toki to get the first eager sips of liquid down his throat. His slip lip ached, but a few licks from his now moist tongue helped ease the pain.

“Better?”

“Yeah,” Toki answered, smiling up at Magnus.

Magnus leaned close and carefully placed a finger on top of the cut lip. “Here, let me get you some more,” he said after a quick check, and left his seat to refill the cup. As he did, Toki cast his tired eyes on the man, and he noticed there was something off about his appearance. 

He was thin. Magnus was noticeably slimmer, enough that Toki could point it out despite his vision not being his best. There was that fine blur that suggested it might not be the case, but when Magnus returned to his bedside, Toki could see the finer details. His cheekbones were more pronounced, and Magnus, though happy, looked emaciated.

“You hasn’t beens eatins,” Toki stated, frowning. He tried lifting his left arm to touch Magnus and feel the sharp counters that he had worked so diligently to fill with hearty meals and love, but could barely bring to lift it. 

Magnus took Toki’s hand into his own. “I’m sorry, Toki,” he said, smiling terribly at him. “It was… _rough._ I’ll regain it all back, man. Just you wait. You just…” Magnus paused, lowered his head and inhaled deeply. He glanced up. “You just focus on getting better, alright?”

Toki gave a weakened nod, but struggled to hold a smile. Magnus looked unwell. He almost looked as bad when Toki visited him in the hospital, right after he recovered from his surgery. He looked so much thinner! Exhausted. Broken down. It… _hurt._ Toki remembered working so hard to get his weight up, and Magnus lost it all in such a short period. He must have been so stressed, so worried looking after him. 

The threat of tears arose, and Toki shut his eyes.

“Something wrong?” he heard Magnus ask. 

Toki shook his head. 

“What is it?”

Toki sniffed, opening them. “You must... have beens so... w-worried,” he said, whimpering out the words. “Must… have beens a… really scaries week.”

Magnus stood up to get closer. He pressed his head gently against Toki’s. “You’ve no idea. But don’t worry; I’ll be ok.” He got closer, arms wrapping around Toki’s lying body, carefully sliding underneath him and stopping whenever Toki jerked from the random jolt of pain. His entire back, though covered, stiffened against the changing pressure. Toki was sure something else was wrong, but didn’t want to tell Magnus to stop. The itch, the strange burning sensation that was creeping alongside his back, that accompanied the growing pain rooting into his arm, was promptly overshadowed by Magnus' presence.

Somehow, he managed to produce a recognizable hug. A strange, distant hug, but one Toki realized he desperately needed. The moment Magnus affirmed it, Toki wanted nothing more than to return it, to break whatever space remained between them and experience the entire embrace. He wanted to feel Magnus hold him, enjoy the fastened pace of his heart and the sheer joy of just having him close. But even this awkward, incomplete hug felt so good. So refreshing. New. Like he hadn’t…

Like he hadn’t hugged Magnus in a very, _very_ long time.

Toki blinked. Tears began to roll down his face as he revisited his dream and saw himself, not quite alive, but not dead either, floating in space, watching the earth slowly spin with the passing days. How many times did it spin? Toki lost count, and his attention had turned towards shooting stars and far away galaxies once he grew tired of the revolving earth. He spread all over the cosmos, getting lost, forgetting, and it was only because he heard the song…

Toki sniffed. “M-Magnus?”

Magnus held him as close as he could. “Yeah, Toke?”

“I hads a dreams,” Toki heaved. A rough, calloused thumb dragged across his cheek. He sniffed. “When I was asleep.”

“Yeah?”

“I slepts for so longs,” Toki said, words weeping out like a confession. “Saw the suns… and the stars, and I gots … gots to swim in space. So pretty…but so lonelies.”

Magnus shushed Toki, holding him as close as he could without causing additional harm. “Don’t worry, man. It was just a dream.”

Toki shook his head at the words. “I dreamts you… played the songs we wrotes.”

This time Magnus couldn’t hold back, and Toki felt a surge of pain from an arm that wanted nothing more than to tear him from the bed. Toki stared outwards, letting a small flow of tears run down his face as he pieced the dream together, Magnus’ decrepit appearance, and the amount of effort he was putting in keeping under control, in keeping them _both_ calm.

The pain doubled at the realization. “Toki couldn’ts… remember we wrotes it,” Toki whispered into Magnus. “So much time…passed… I forgots…”

“Don’t worry about it, man.”

Toki closed his eyes one final time to try and stop the tears, to fight the horrible truth that was unfolding before him. “H-how longs…how longs has Toki beens gone?” he coughed. Magnus shuddered at the question. Toki wriggled in place, even though it took up so much of his energy. Even though it hurt and made him break into a cold sweat. He needed to see Magnus. He needed to know. Toki continued moving, pushing Magnus away until he had no choice but to face him. Trembling, Toki asked, “How longs did it… takes me to gets backs home?”

He saw the anguish in Magnus’ eyes.

“M-Magnus?” he pleaded, shaking in his bed. He inhaled a deep breath, fighting through the ingrained pain to get a full sentence out. “H-how longs haves you and everyones been waitins for us?” 

Magnus recoiled at the question. Toki watched as Magnus brought a hand to cover his darkened eyes, to hide away a drop of the pain that was now emitting all over him. Magnus trembled, his lips curled into a thin line as he exhaled heavily through his nostrils. Finally, after some time, Magnus dropped his hand, letting it fall on top of Toki’s, while the other gripped the bed’s metal railing.

“You’ve… _well_ , you’ve been away for a while, buddy,” he said, voice fighting between keeping a gentle composure, and wanting nothing more than to break and fall into a state of piteous cries. Magnus’s mouth remained opened, and Toki watched as he sucked in a staggered breath. Magnus squeezed his hand. “A little more than two months.”

Toki sank. “W-what?” 

“You arrived just in time for New Years,” Magnus said, forcing a laugh. He squeezed Toki’s hand again, adding a little playful shake. “D-don’t worry…I’ll sneak in some champagne.”

Months.

The word hit hard. _Months_. He’d been away for months. He’d been dead for months!

No wonder Magnus was so thin. It’s been months. He waited for months. Abigail and the others… 

Months.

“Oohhh…” Toki’s lips curled, bearing teeth before parting further. A pain stabbed at his heart. He let out an airy gasp, then broke into a weak cry. 

“Hey, _hey_.” Magnus lowered, letting go of the railing to pet Toki. “Hey. Shhh. It’s alright.” 

“N-no ams not!” Toki wailed. He coughed, choking on uneven gulps of air. “I…I has been gones for… t-two months. I…”

Magnus pressed his face into Toki’s crown. “It’s ok,” he whispered into Toki’s messy hair. “I’ll catch you up on everything.” Another haughty laugh. “Spoiler alert: nothing important happened.”

Toki stared at Magnus’ heaving chest. “B-but, Magnus...”

“Toki, it’s al–”

“I l-left you all alones…” More tears fell, and Toki let out a staggered whine. “Yous waited f-for two months…and Toki… m-missed your…”

Magnus’ hand shook.

“…I m-missed your birthdays,” Toki bleated, and let out another whine once Magnus pulled him into a hug. A real hug.

His arm, though in a cast, ached. It burned, stung like nothing Toki ever felt before, but when faced with the pain, all he could think to do was bring his one good arm up to return the favor. He lifted it as high as he could, barely making it over Magnus. More tears fell as Toki felt the effect of their embrace, the warmth that he’d been deprived of for months.

“I missed y-your birthdays…and Christmas…” he bawled. His heart stung, racked with guilt. “I left you all alones, after I promised I-I’d comes back.” He heard Magnus stifle a sound, and Toki felt tears cascade, land on his neck and begin to drench his hospital gown. Toki shut his eyes. “I mades you spend your birthday alones. I gots you n-nothings…”

“Oh, no, _Toki_.” Magnus pulled away, breaking the hug in the process. He stared down at a wretched Toki, face ruined with tears, saliva and snot. Magnus wiped his own, shaking his head at him. “No, you…”

He cupped Toki’s shaking jaw. Thumbs rolled over Toki’s cheeks, wiping away a few of the tumultuous streams of tears covering the younger man’s face. Toki winced, squinting each time Magnus tried, but failed, to cut off a stream, then felt another burst of heartache when Magnus gave up, succumbed and let his flow again, falling down his once hardened expression. He dipped forward, face covering Toki’s. Toki felt the sharp prickle of Magnus’ unkempt facial hair rub against him. Magnus drew his lips upwards, kissing Toki’s tear-stained cheek. The first stung just as bad as the hug, but then came the second, kissing another stream away and leaving behind an inkling of relief. Then, a third. A fourth. Fifth. 

Then Magnus parted. “You gave me the best damn gift of all,” he said, voice hoarse and raspy. He looked Toki in the eyes. “You came back. Like you said you would.”

Toki hiccuped a weak cry.

Magnus wiped away some more of his own tears with his sleeve, then smiled. “Gift just…it arrived a _little_ late,” he said, stuttering an awkward laugh that was far more genuine than the last. It was real, and although it sounded so off, and it ended with a sharp, staggered inhale, the truth that filled each word before it, the smile that lifted it, and the lighthearted beginning of its treble was more than enough to let Toki know Magnus meant it.

Hearing it, Toki sniffed, squinted his sore eyes, and then broke into another, more uncontrolled cry. He bobbed his head, trying to agree, trying harder to smile, but the tears wouldn’t stop. Magnus returned to him, attending to the opposite cheek, and kissed at the tears that wouldn’t cease flowing. With his weakened arm, Toki held on to Magnus, fighting whatever pains it brought him to have Magnus close, even after his monitor warned him to stop, and the nurses raced in to demand what was going on and tell Magnus to have better control of himself. He didn’t let go. He wouldn’t let go even after the nurses threatened to put him under, and another called for Mr. Offdensen. Toki held on, waiting for that moment when Magnus kissed all the tears, loneliness and inner turmoil away, leaving nothing behind but the pain from a long battle and the assurance that, that too, would soon be soothed by him.

“Magnus, I’m disappointed,” Charles said once he made his appearance. Toki barely had enough sense to produce a sloppy, drug-induced wave at his old manager while Magnus was ripped from him, restrained by two nurses. Charles rubbed his eyes with a hand. “We’ll be discussing this later.” 

“Don’t forget what I said, buddy,” Magnus reminded with an enthusiastic, if somewhat manic grin. If Toki wasn’t so loopy, so saturated in morphine, he’d make a comment about it. For now, he could only return Magnus’ smile with another. “I got a whole room with your name on it.” 

“Kays,” Toki said, arm swaying as he reached out to the blurring figure. “Wills you... be back tomorrows?”

“Yeah,” he heard Magnus’ voice echo. “I promise, man. You have my word.”

High on morphine, Toki giggled at the words, and snickered and cheered for Magnus when he slipped out of a nurse’s hold to return to him one final time, kiss Toki and tell him he loved him.

But once it was over, once Magnus was escorted out of his room, and Charles told Toki that he needed to focus on getting better, Toki stared up at the darkening light, at the foreboding haze and painkillers dragging his consciousness back to sleep, and he hoped that Magnus would have better luck arriving on time than he did.

He fell asleep, dreaming that neither would remain separated again.


End file.
